The function of direct speech inBacchylides’ poetryThe case of ode 5 and ode 18

Elisa Nuria MerisioSapienza Università di Roma

The narrative art of Bacchylides of Ceos has already been investigated in several studiesand articles1. His tendency to insert ample narratives of mythical tales by adding a wealthof details, his taste for vivid descriptions and the liveliness of the scenes bear reminiscenceof Stesichorus’ poetry2. Both poets have been defined as ‘epic-like’ with regard to theirways of developing mythical contents. One of the most important features in Bacchylides’narrative style is undoubtedly his peculiar use of direct speech. Using mimesis instead ofpure narrative3, the poet achieves a greater ‘expressivity’, meaning the degree of invol-vement of the speaker4, with the effect of increasing the pathos of the scene, as shownby the despair conveyed by the words of Croesus in ode 3 (ll. 37–475). Direct speech isalso designed to make the episodes more lively, as in the speech by Menelaus in ode 15(ll. 50–63) or in the tense dialogue between Minos and Theseus in ode 17 (ll. 20–80).

This paper is aimed at analysing Bacchylides’ narrative choices and the role played byand the effects of direct speech in two poems of his, namely ode 5 and ode 18. These odesare among the best conserved poems in the Bacchylidean corpus, and all their featureshave been deeply investigated6. Despite wide differences in terms of genre, content andstructure, the use of direct speech makes them comparable. The use of direct speechin these odes allows the poet to achieve narrative effects that would be unthinkable byresorting only to an extradiegetic narrator and to pure narrative. These effects rely on a‘narrative’ similar to the one used by drama’s authors, by which the primary narrator andthe primary narratees, that is the poet and the spectators7, know more than the characterswho are speaking8. Actually, the audience knows the fabula of the whole narrated myth,

1 See Gentili (1958); Kirkwood (1966); Segal (1976); Burnett (1985); Calame (1999); Pfeijffer (1999);Rengakos (2000).

2 Kirkwood (1966) 100; Stern (1970) 300f.3 See Genette (1983) 162f., who refers to Pl. Rep. 3.392c–395.4 See Beck (2009) 142.5 All references to the text of Bacchylides’ odes follow Maehler’s edition (2003).6 For ode 5, see Stern (1967); Lefkowitz (1969); Goldhill (1983); Villarubia (1993); Cairns (1997);

Antoniono, Cesca (2011). For ode 18, see Wind (1972); Merkelbach (1973); Barron (1980); Vox (1982);Ieranò (1987); Arnauld (2001).

7 See De Jong (2004) 7f.8 See Genette (1983) 188f.

eisodos – Zeitschrift für Literatur und Theorie 2017 (2) Herbst

THE FUNCTION OF DIRECT SPEECH IN BACCHYLIDES’ POETRY

and the poet skilfully exploits this situation to create an effect of dramatic irony9. Theinvestigation of narrative structures can therefore help to understand in depth the aimsof Bacchylides’ poetry and how he achieves them, thereby highlighting his close relationwith the authors of fifth-century Attic tragedy.

Ode 5, one of the most famous epinician poems by Bacchylides, was composed tocelebrate the victory of Hieron, ruler of Syracuse, in the horse race at the Olympiangames of 476 BC. Like all the most elaborate epinician poems, it features a mythicalnarrative: the meeting of Heracles and Meleager in Hades. It is a minor episode in thesaga of Heracles, as it is often the case with the mythical narratives inserted by Bacchylidesin his odes. Heracles has descended to the underworld to capture the dog Cerberus, andamong the dead’s souls he sees the imposing figure of Meleager. Worried by the threateningappearance of Meleager’s shadow, Heracles nocks an arrow on to his bowstring; his actcauses the reaction of Meleager, who speaks to the living hero, starting a dialogue withhim (ll. 79–96):

“υἱὲ Διὸς μεγάλου,

στᾶθί τ᾿ἐν χώρᾳ, γελανώσας τε θυμόν (80)

μὴ ταΰσιον προΐει

τραχὺν ἐκ χειρῶν ὀϊστόν

ψυχαῖσιν ἔπι φθιμένων·

οὔ τοι δέος.” ὣς φάτο· θάμβησεν δ᾿ἄναξ

Αμφιτρυωνιάδας, (85)

εἶπέν τε· “τίς ἀθανάτων

ἤ βροτῶν τοιοῦτον ἔρνος

θρέψεν ἐν ποίᾳ χθονί;

τίς δ᾿ἔκτανεν; ἦ τάχα καλλίζωνος ῞Ηρα

κεῖνον ἐφ᾿ἁμετέρᾳ (90)

πέμψει κεφαλᾷ· τὰ δέ που

Παλλάδι ξανθᾷ μέλει.”

τὸν δὲ προσέφα Μελέαγρος

δακρυόεις· “χαλεπὸν

θεῶν παρατρέψαι νόον (95)

ἄνδρεσσιν ἐπιχθονίοις. [. . . ]”10

9 The use of the device of dramatic irony in Bacchylides’ odes 5 and 18 has been studied by GarcíaRomero (2012). He makes however a lexical analysis focused on the ambigous meaning of the wordsuttered by the characters.

10 Bacchylides 5.79–96 (p. 18): “«Son of great Zeus, stay thou there and calm thy heart, and launch notvainly from thy hands a brute arrow against a dead man’s ghost. There’s naught to fear». The princelyson of Amphitryon marvelled at his words and said, «What God or man reared such a scion as this, andwhere? And who slew him? Sure the fair-girdled Hera will soon send the slayer of such an one against me

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When Meleager tells him that there is no point in attacking the souls of the dead,Heracles stops in his tracks. He admires the handsome figure in front of him and asksMeleager about his identity, his birth, and finally about the identity of his murderer: heis certain that his enemy Hera will send that one (κεῖνον, line 90) to kill himself too. Theanswer of Meleager is a long speech opened by the gnomic statement that it is difficultfor human beings to change the mind of gods. Looking back with nostalgia on his life onearth, he goes over the events that caused his death: during the battle for the spoils ofthe Calidonian wild boar, he killed unintentionally two brothers of his mother, therebyarousing the grieving woman’s anger. In a fit of rage, she burned the brand to which thelife of Meleager was magically connected since his birth11. Thus the life of the young herowas extinguished along with the brand burnt by the fire.

The story of Meleager’s death arouses the compassion and the tears of Heracles, whoutters words of pity, then the dialogue between the two heros is resumed (ll. 160–175):

τᾶδ᾿ ἔφα· “θνατοῖσι μὴ φῦναι φέριστον (160)

μήδ᾿ ἀελίου προσιδεῖν

φέγγος· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ γάρ τίς ἐστιν

πρᾶξις τάδε μυρομένοις·

χρὴ κεῖνο λέγειν ὅτι καὶ μέλλει τελεῖν.

ἦρά τις ἐν μεγάροις (165)

Οἰνῆος ἀρηϊφίλου

ἔστιν ἀδμήτα θυγάτρων,

σοὶ φυὰν ἀλιγκία;

τάν κεν λιπαρὰν 〈ἐ〉θέλων θείμαν ἄκοιτιν.”

τὸν δὲ μενεπτολέμου (170)

ψυχὰ προσέφα Μελεά-

γρου· “λίπον χλωραύχενα

ἐν δώμασι Δαϊάνειραν,

νῆϊν ἔτι χρυσέας

Κύπριδος θελξιμβρότου.”12 (175)

also—albeit flaxen-haired Pallas, methinks, will look to that». Then answered Meleager weeping, «Hardis it for earthly man to bend the will of a God [...]».” Translation by Edmonds (1980).

11 For the story of Meleager, mentioned also in Hom. Il. 9.529–99, and its various versions see March(1987) 29–46.

12 Bacchylides 5.160–175 (p. 19): “[. . . ] he answered him, «Best were it for mortals never to be bornnor ever to look upon the sunlight; but seeing no good cometh of these laments, one should speak of thathe is likely to accomplish. Is there, I ask thee, in the palace of warrior Oeneus an unwedded daughterlike in beauty unto thee? I would fain make such an one my splendid bride». Whereat the ghost of thestedfast warrior Meleager answered him: «Deïaneira left I at my home with the green of youth upon hersweet neck, unwitting still of the golden enchantress Cypris».” Translation by Edmonds (1980).

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After a pessimistic remark about human condition, peculiar to Greek thought13,Heracles states that mourning is vain, and that one should speak rather of what oneintends to achieve. Then he asks Meleager if he has an unmarried sister who resembleshim still living in the palace of Oineus: he would like to marry her. The whole mythicalepisode ends with Meleager’s evocation of ‘fresh-necked’ Deianira, still ignorant of love.

The long narrative about Meleager’s death amounts to an explanatory metadiegesis14

in which Meleager becomes an intradiegetic narrator15. The use of metadiegesis to narrateevents preceding the episode that constitutes the primary narrative allows the poet toconcentrate a long story in one dramatic moment16. The use of direct speech is hereclearly aimed at increasing the pathos of the related events, even more so since Meleager,besides being a homodiegetic narrator, is the victim too. However, the use of direct speechand dialogue in this ode has an additional effect which is related to Heracles. Just whenhe assumes that the killer of Meleager is a male warrior and that Hera will send him afterhimself too, a divergence in the extent of knowledge by the character and by the audienceemerges: the latter knows in advance the outcome of the whole story. Meleager’s narrativewill then give Heracles the information about the murderer of the dead hero, but only theaudience could grasp the ominous allusion to Heracles’ death contained in his words: bothof them are bound to be killed by a woman, Meleager by his mother and Heracles by hisbride. This play of dramatic irony reaches its climax at the end of the mythical episode,when Heracles, deeply admiring the dead, expresses his will to marry Meleager’s sister:by doing so, he determines his doom unawares17. The name of Deianira, Heracles’ futurebride—and murderer—reverberates significantly in the last lines uttered by the soul ofthe hero, and keeps the audience in a suspense full of ominous forebodings18. Afterwardsthe ode goes back to the present occasion, and to the celebration of Hieron’s victory byemphasizing the role of poetry in praising glorious deeds.

Ode 18 (Θησεύς) corresponds to the fourth dithyramb in the collection of poemscontained in Bacchylides’ papyrus (PLitLond 46). Its formal structure makes it unique:it comprises four strophes with no triadic structure and it consists entirely of a dialoguein direct speech between two characters, the king of Athens, Aegeus, and a group ofAthenian citizens, even though their identity is not explicitly stated19. Since the dialogueis not introduced by an extradiegetic narrator, the identity of the speakers becomes clear

13 “θνατοῖσι μὴ φῦναι φέριστον / μήδ᾿ ἀελίου προσιδεῖν φέγγος” (ll. 160–2): “for human beings the bestthing is not to be born and not to see the sunlight”; cf. Theogn. 425–8; Soph. O. C. 1224–7.

14 See Genette (1983) 232.15 See Genette (1983) 248.16 See Pfeijffer (2004) 226f.17 The intention of Heracles to marry Meleager’s sister seems to be a novelty introduced by Bacchylides

in the episode, whereas in Pindar’s dithyramb 2 Meleager himself asks Heracles to marry his sister;cf. Maehler (1982) 80ff.

18 Rengakos (2000) 41.19 The real development of the performance is uncertain: the role of Aegeus could have been interpreted

by one actor and the other role by a chorus, but the performance might also have been played by twosemi-choruses; cf. Ieranò (1987) 89 n. 7.

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only through the words they utter. However, the real protagonist in absentia is Theseus,on whom the speeches of the characters centre. Although the dithyramb is named afterhim, his name is never pronounced along the ode. As we shall see, in this poem the poetplays with the issue of his identity.

The classification of this poem in the lyric genre of dithyrambs, like many of Bacchyli-des’ odes that are contained in this section of the papyrus, is not straightforward. As it isthe case with almost all Bacchylidean dithyrambs, neither Dionysus nor his cult are men-tioned in the ode20; moreover, a mimetic structure consisting entirely of a direct speechdialogue does not fall into the general categories of poetry as described by Plato in therelevant well-known passage from the Republic, where he actually classified dithyrambicpoetry as δι᾿ ἀπαγγελίας αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιητοῦ (“by means of the recital of the poet himself”)that is a kind of narrative wholly performed by means of an extradiegetic narrator21.

As far as the performance setting is concerned, it can be safely assumed that thedithyramb was addressed to an Athenian audience, but the specific festival in which itwas performed is still a matter of controversy22. The social, political and cult-relatedaspects and symbols have been deeply investigated by several scholars23. In the followingpages attention will be focused on the use of direct speech and on the effects of thisnarrative choice. The text of ode 18 is quoted below:

Chorus

Βασιλεῦ τᾶν ἱερᾶν Αθανᾶν,

τῶν ἁβροβίων ἄναξ ᾿Ιώνων,

τί νέον ἔκλαγε χαλκοκώδων

σάλπιγξ πολεμηΐαν ἀοιδάν;

ἦ τις ἁμετέρας χθονὸς (5)

δυσμενὴς ὅρι᾿ ἀμφιβάλλει

στραταγέτας ἀνήρ;

ἢ λῃσταὶ κακομάχανοι

ποιμένων ἀέκατι μήλων

σεύοντ᾿ ἀγέλας βίᾳ; (10)

ἢ τί τοι κραδίαν ἀμύσσει;

φθέγγευ· δοκέω γὰρ εἴ τινι βροτῶν

ἀλκίμων ἐπικουρίαν

καὶ τὶν ἔμμεναι νέων,

ὦ Πανδίονος υἱὲ καὶ Κρεούσας. (15)

20 Burnett (1985) 117; for the controversial question of the nature of Bacchylidean dithyrambs, seeZimmermann (1992) 64–116; García Romero (2000) 47–57; Fearn (2007) 163–225.

21 Pl. Rep. 3.394b–c.22 See Maehler (2004) 189ff.23 See above note 6.

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Aegeus

Νέον ἦλθε〈ν〉 δολιχὰν ἀμείψας

κᾶρυξ ποσὶν ᾿Ισθμίαν κέλευθον·

ἄφατα δ᾿ ἔργα λέγει κραταιοῦ

φωτός· τὸν ὑπέρβιόν τ᾿ ἔπεφνεν

Σίνιν, ὃς ἰσχύϊ φέρτατος (20)

θνατῶν ἦν, Κρονίδα Λυταίου

σεισίχθονος τέκος·

σῦν τ᾿ ἀνδροκτόνον ἐν νάπαις

Κρεμ〈μ〉υῶνος ἀτάσθαλόν τε

Σκίρωνα κατέκτανεν· (25)

τάν τε Κερκυόνος παλαίστραν

ἔσχεν, Πολυπήμονός τε καρτεράν

σφῦραν ἐξέβαλεν Προκό-

πτας, ἀρείονος τυχών

φωτός. ταῦτα δέδοιχ᾿ ὅπᾳ τελεῖται. (30)

Chorus

Τίνα δ᾿ ἔμμεν πόθεν ἄνδρα τοῦτον

λέγει, τίνα τε στολὰν ἔχοντα;

πότερα σὺν πολεμηΐοις ὅ-

πλοισι στρατιὰν ἄγοντα πολλάν;

ἢ μοῦνον σὺν ὀπάοσιν (35)

στ〈ε〉ίχειν ἔμπορον οἷ᾿ ἀλάταν

ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοδαμίαν,

ἰσχυρόν τε καὶ ἄλκιμον

ὧδε καὶ θρασύν, ὅς το〈σ〉ούτωνἀνδρῶν κρατερὸν σθένος (40)

ἔσχεν; ἦ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὁρμᾷ,

δίκας ἀδίκοισιν ὄφρα μήσεται·

οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον αἰὲν ἔρ-

δοντα μὴ ᾿ντυχεῖν κακῷ.

πάντ᾿ ἐν τῷ δολιχῷ χρόνῳ τελεῖται. (45)

Aegeus

Δύο οἱ φῶτε μόνους ἁμαρτεῖν

λέγει, περὶ φαιδίμοισι δ᾿ ὤμοις

ξίφος ἔχειν 〈ἐλεφαντόκωπον〉

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ξεστοὺς δὲ δύ᾿ ἐν χέρεσσ᾿ ἄκοντας

κηὔτυκτον κυνέαν Λάκαι- (50)

ναν κρατὸς πέρι πυρσοχαίτου·

χιτῶνα πορφύρεον

στέρνοις τ᾿ ἀμφί, καὶ οὔλιον

Θεσσαλὰν χλαμύδ᾿· ὀμμάτων δὲ

στίλβειν ἄπο Λαμνίαν (55)

φοίνισσαν φλόγα· παῖδα δ᾿ ἔμ〈μ〉ενπρώθηβον, ἀρηΐων δ᾿ ἀθυρμάτων

μεμνᾶσθαι πολέμου τε καὶ

χαλκεοκτύπου μάχας·

δίζησθαι δὲ φιλαγλάους Αθάνας.24 (60)

In the first strophe the chorus of Athenians asks Aegeus the reason why a trumpet wasblown to sound an alarm25 and reminds the king of the presence of brave young peopleready to defend the community. The identity of the addressee becomes clear thanks tothe apostrophe “son of Pandion and Creusa” at the end of the strophe: Pandion was oneof the ten eponymous heroes of the Attic ‘tribes’ and Aegeus’ father26. In the secondstrophe Aegeus gives an account of what a messenger has just told him about the deedsof a young warrior, who defeated a lot of the dangerous bandits who overran the territoryof the Isthmus. The king sounds very worried about these events. In the third strophethe chorus asks Aegeus if the young warrior travels with few companions or with a wholearmy. They argue that a god must be driving him on, if he can accomplish such amazingdeeds, and they sound confident about the future. In the fourth strophe Aegeus answersthat two men go with him, and gives information about the appearance, the clothes andthe attitude of the young man. He is heading for the ‘splendour-loving’ Athens.

24 Bacchylides 18 (pp. 21–23): Chorus: “King of holy Athens, lord of the soft-living Ionians, what newthing means the war-song that cries from the brazen-belled clarion? Doth a captain of enemies beset thebounds of our land? or thieves of ill intent drive our herds of sheep perforce in their keepers’ despite? orwhat is it pricks thy heart? Prithee speak; for thou, methinks, if any man, hast aid of valiant youths tothy hand, O son of Pandion and Creüsa.” // Aegeus: “A messenger is but now come running, by way ofthe long road of Isthmus, .with news of the deeds ineffable of a mighty man, who hath slain the huge Sinisthat o’erpassed the world in strength, child of the Earth-shaker Lytaean, the son of Cronus, and hathlaid low the man-slaying sow in the woods of Cremmyon, aye, and the wicked Sciron, and hath ended thewrestling-place of Cercyon, and Polypemon’s strong hammer is dropt from the hand of a Maimer whohath found his match. I fear me how this all shall end.” // Chorus: “Who and whence saith he thatthis man is, and what his equipage? Comes he with a great host under arms, or travelleth alone with hisservants like a merchant that wanders abroad, this man so mighty, stout, and valiant, who hath stayedthe great strength of so many? Sure a God must speed him for to bring the unjust to justice, for it is nolight task to come off ever free of ill. All things end in the long run of time.” // Aegeus: “Two alone, hesaith, are with him, and there is slung to his bright shoulders a sword of ivory haft, and either hand hatha polished javelin; a well-wrought Spartan bonnet is about his ruddy locks, and a purple shirt around hisbreast, with a cloack of the frieze of Thessaly; and as for his eyes, there goes a red flash from them as ofLemnian flame; a lad is he first come to manhood, bent on the pastimes of Ares, war and the battle-dinof bronze; and his quest is unto splendor-loving Athens.” Translation by Edmonds (1980).

25 A real trumpet might have been blown just before the performance; cf. Maehler (2004) 194.26 Maehler (2004) 195.

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The ode is structured and the direct speech is used in such a way as to lead theaudience to share the anxiety of the characters until the names of the bandits defeatedby the young hero are mentioned in the second strophe. From this point onwards, theaudience realized that the young man is Theseus, Aegeus’ son, who is coming to Athensto be recognized by his father, and can witness Aegeus’ fear alternating with the chorus’enthusiasm, both equally ignorant of present and future events. In particular, the sentenceuttered by Aegeus (ταῦτα δέδοιχ᾿ ὅπᾳ τελεῖται, l. 30) seemed to convey a deeper meaning:while the fear of forthcoming troubles—the real fear that fills the soul of the king in thepoem—sounded groundless, since the event was bound to have a happy outcome as theaudience knew only too well, the above sentence took on a more ominous nuance in thelight of what will happen afterwards. Actually, Theseus will be the cause of his father’sdeath, even though unintentionally27. The words of line 30 are re-echoed by those utteredby the chorus at line 45 (πάντ᾿ ἐν τῷ δολιχῷ χρόνῳ τελεῖται); in the form of a more universalstatement, they convey the feeling that future events will surely happen driven by divinejustice, from the enthusiastic and positive perspective of the chorus of the Athenians.

The dithyramb ends abruptly—like many Bacchylidean dithyrambs—upon the imageof Theseus approaching Athens, so that the young hero is expected to come on the sceneat any moment.

In regard to the nature of the scenes in the two odes, two different models might beidentified. Ode 5 depicts the meeting between two heroes, a scene typical of the epic genre;in particular, the similarity to the episodes of the meeting between Odysseus and Heracles(Od. 11.601 ff.) and of the meeting between Odysseus and Agamemnon (Od. 11.385 ff.)during the descent of the former to Hades is striking28. Conversely, the situation depictedin ode 18, namely the account of a messenger’s speech, as well as the dialogue between aking and an assembled group of people, is typical of the tragic genre29; in particular, thescene depicted in the first strophe is very similar to the one in the parodos of Aeschylus’Agamemnon, where the old citizens of Argo question their queen Klytaimestra abouta message that has just been sent through fire-signals30. The metadiegetic narrative ofimportant events that have already happened or that are happening just as they arenarrated, as in ode 18, is a device often used by the tragedians. Actually, it makes possiblethe performance of scenes that otherwise would be very difficult to stage. Nevertheless,frequently it was a deliberate dramatic choice, since what is heard is sometimes moreimpressive than what is seen; thus, by using the highly imaginative power of words, astronger suspense and a deeper tragic sense are conveyed. This effect is quite differentfrom the one achieved by Meleager’s speech in ode 5: in this poem the autodiegetic

27 Burnett (1985) 122f.; Rengakos (2000) 103f.28 See Lefkowitz (1969) 63ff.29 Cf. Aesch. Pers. 302–30 and 353–432; Soph. OT 1–77.30 Aesch. Ag. 83–103, esp. 83–7. Bacchylides might have been influenced by this passage of Aeschylus’

Agamemnon in composing ode 18 given its peculiar structure; cf. Maehler (2004) 193.

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narrative of the death’s moment by the victim himself is aimed at increasing the pathosaroused by the sad event besides adding a new episode to the myth-telling31.

Although the dialogue-based scenes of odes 5 and 18 differ very much as far as contextand situation are concerned, the direct speeches made by Heracles and Aegeus conveya similar form of dramatic irony to the audience. Even statements having a universalvalue, like the one uttered by Heracles at the end of Meleager’s narrative, that are sorecurrent in archaic and classical Greek thought, take on new nuances when they aremade by characters32. In Heracles’ case, the tragic sense conveyed by those well-knownwords (ll. 160–2) is twofold, since Heracles is bringing himself to ruin by his free choice tomarry Deianira33.

The tragic nature that characterizes Bacchylides’ poetry is comparable to that oftragedy itself, whose golden age was starting in those years with Aeschylus’ dramas.He plays with the contrast between reality and the restricted or misleading knowledge ofcharacters34, who are often opposed to an omniscient deity before an omniscient audience’seyes. In particular, the doubts and uncertainties of men at the mercy of divine power areexpressed similarly in both odes: in ode 5, Heracles expresses his worry that Hera willsend Meleager’s killer against him—but Pallas will take care of it (ἦ τάχα καλλίζωνος ῞Ηρα

κεῖνον ἐφ᾿ ἁμετέρᾳ / πέμψει κεφαλᾷ· τὰ δέ που Παλλάδι ξανθᾷ μέλει, ll. 89–92); in ode 18 theAthenians’ chorus states that the young hero must be driven on by a god in his victoriousfight against the evil-doers, since it is not easy for mortal beings to accomplish such anuninterrupted series of deeds without incurring ruin (ἦ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὁρμᾷ, δίκας ἀδίκοισιν

ὄφρα μήσεται· / οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον αἰὲν ἔρδοντα μὴ ᾿ντυχεῖν κακῷ, ll. 41–44)35. In both cases agod’s agency is assumed, but human beings cannot get a clear knowledge of it36.

Beyond these similarities there is a difference in the kind of tragic situation depicted inthe two odes. The tragic aspect of Heracles’ ignorance lies in his action—the words ἀλλ᾿οὐγάρ τίς ἐστιν / πρᾶξις τάδε μυρομένοις· χρὴ κεῖνο λέγειν ὅτι καὶ μέλλει τελεῖν (ll. 162–4)are significant—, that is, in a choice that will unintentionally drive him to death. In theTheseus dithyramb, the tragic sense lies in the mere depiction of human blindness and theambiguity of all wordly events, since in the ode there are not either action or intention, but

31 See above p. 28.32 Kirkwood (1966) 103ff.; Stern (1970) 304f.33 As far as the meaning of Heracles’ statement in ll. 160–4 is concerned, it is worth mentioning

the interpretation given by Senger (2008) 147ff: by assuming that the abrupt end of myth’s narrativehas the effect of reminding the audience not only of Heracles’ tragic death but also of the subsequenthero’s apotheosis, Senger suggests a less pessimistic interpretation than the ones followed in this paper.In Senger’s opinion, Heracles’ words χρὴ κεῖνο λέγειν ὅτι καὶ μέλλει τελεῖν (l. 164) convey a pragmaticfeeling: to be born is a fact that cannot be altered and as a consequence men must try to do what theyhave the power to accomplish while being aware of human limits and frailties.

34 Cf. Burnett (1985) 116f., where Bacchylidean poetry is compared with Pindaric poetry.35 As for line 41, I adopt Maehler’s (2003) affirmative interpretation of the particle η (hence ἦ) and not

Slings’ interpretation of a disjuntive ἢ (Slings [1990]); cf. Maehler (2004) 199.36 The gap between omniscient and limited narrative when the gods are involved is a feature that can

be found back in Homer; see Scodel (2009) 421.

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just a wait37. This divergence between the two odes reverberates in the effect of suspenseat the end of the narrative (which in ode 18 corresponds to the end of the poem): whereasin ode 5 the abrupt interruption upon Deianira’s name allows the audience to foresee thedramatic events that will happen38, in ode 18 the final description of Theseus and of hisapproaching Athens leads the audience to imagine the sudden coming of the hero on thescene, which will definitively dispel the fears of his father.

Finally, it is essential to recall the different occasion and therefore the different aimsof the two Bacchylidean odes considered in this paper. The first one is a victory ode:the insertion of the mythical narrative, with its pessimistic and subdued tone, is aimedat offsetting the excitement caused by the sports victory, which is a typical process ofepinician poetry. The ominous end of the mythical narrative is then followed by thereturn to the praise of Hieron, of his victory and of the merits of poetry; however, thepreceding mythical narrative casts a shadow on the celebration that takes on a deeperawareness of human destiny.

Conversely, ode 18 is designed to celebrate a civic community in a sort of social riteinvolving the ephebes39. It is a glorification of Athens by celebrating its mythical founderand its youth filled with warlike ardour.

These differences point out Bacchylides’ ability to adapt the tragic effect to varioussituations. This paper was meant to show that in odes 5 and 18 this effect is achieved,first and foremost, thanks to the poet’s masterly use of several narrative levels and inparticular the narrative mode ofmimesis adopted by resorting to direct speech. This modehighlights the gap of knowledge between characters on the one hand and the narrator andthe audience on the other, thereby creating an effect of dramatic irony that reminds usof the best achievements of Attic tragedy.

elisa.merisio@uniroma1.it

About the Author Elisa Nuria Merisio is a Ph.D. student in Greek and Latin Phi-lology at Sapienza Università di Roma. She is working on a project dealing with metricalfunerary inscriptions from Phrygia under the Roman Empire with particular attention tothe relationship between Greek paideia and local identity. Elisa’s previous projects inclu-ded an examination of myth-telling in Bacchylides’ poetry (M.A. Dissertation - Universitàdegli Studi di Siena) and a study of the ‘ephemeral’ human condition in archaic Greekpoetry (B.A. Dissertation - Università degli Studi di Siena).

37 Burnett (1985) 121ff.38 Rengakos (2000) 104f.39 Cf. Merkelbach (1973) and Ieranò (1987).

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